Reading Recommendations For Raxa Collective’s Extended Community, And From Raxa Collective Interns

Many universities in the western and northern regions of the world are concluding their academic years about now as summer break begins, which means it is time for Raxa Collective to begin welcoming interns. Some who join have already completed their undergraduate degrees, and prior to beginning their “real” careers they come to spend time in one of our communities, collaborating with our staff, local communities, etc..

One such case is a contributor who has just completed an undergraduate degree; before heading to New England to pursue Ph.D. studies he will carry out projects at Xandari that will allow him to perfect his Spanish language skills. Since he is going to be in the same community as these people below, starting in August, we post this “suggestions on summer reading” article from Harvard Gazette as a prompt for James to make his own summer reading recommendations in a new post. If he takes us up on this prompt we will see who follows his lead and shares their own reading recommendations…

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer. Yeats and Bishop made Bret Anthony Johnston's summer reading list but, he said, "I’m eager to happen upon unexpected used bookstores, tag sales, and library fundraisers, where I often buy books outside of my typical reading inclinations."

Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer. Yeats and Bishop made Bret Anthony Johnston’s summer reading list but, he said, “I’m eager to happen upon unexpected used bookstores, tag sales, and library fundraisers, where I often buy books outside of my typical reading inclinations.”

Bret Anthony Johnston
Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser Director of Creative Writing

This summer I’m going to read W.B. Yeats and Elizabeth Bishop, and “Wynne’s War,” a new novel by Aaron Gwyn about special forces on horseback in Afghanistan.

Continue reading →

Calveri Mount, Idukki

Photo credits : Dileep

Photo credits: Dileep

Calveri Mount is a beautiful destination, situated on the high ranges of the Western Ghats about 40 kilometers from Periyar Tiger Reserve. From Calveri Mount one can experience a spectacular panoramic view of Idukki reservoir – the biggest arch dam in India. The location also offers great trekking and the scenic beauty of Idukki’s valleys and high-altitude hills.  Continue reading →

Portraiture Of Self-Sufficiency

A view of the village of El Pardal, Sierra de Cazorla, Spain, 2013.

A composting toilet, Sierra Nevada, Spain, 2013.

Many contributors to our platform here, and its readers, have probably considered life off-grid.  Most will experiment during their travels, but stop short of the full monty, which would mean divestiture or most/all possessions and hitting the road. Thanks to this photographer (and the New Yorker‘s far-reaching sampling) for giving us both candid and portrait-like views into some examples of “self-sufficient” lives:

In 2006, while he was backpacking in Australia, the French photographer Antoine Bruy signed up with an international exchange program for volunteers who want to work on organic farms.

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If You Happen To Be In Norwich

An egg mistakenly cracked by Charles Darwin is among the items in The Wonder of Birds exhibit. Photograph: Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

An egg mistakenly cracked by Charles Darwin is among the items in The Wonder of Birds exhibit. Photograph: Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

Thanks to the Guardian for pointing us to an exhibition that will be of interest to ornithologically-inclined readers of this blog:

It is an unassuming object, a smallish, strangely glossy brown egg, and it is broken because of the carelessness of the last person you would expect – Charles Darwin.

“He squashed it into too small a box and it cracked, unfortunately,” said curator Francesca Vanke, explaining the state of the spotted tinamou egg going on display at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

The object is the only known surviving egg from Darwin’s HMS Beagle voyage during the 1830s. Probably drawn to its glossy sheen, Darwin signed it C. Darwin and brought it back to Britain after collecting it in Uruguay. Continue reading →

Relationships Across The Boundaries Of Photography And Architecture

Tadao Ando's Monterrey house, by Edmund Sumner

Tadao Ando’s Monterrey house, by Edmund Sumner

Thanks to Phaidon for this story on the relationship between architecture and photography, or rather architects and photographers:

By the time Edmund Sumner was given his first camera, at the age of eight, he was already surrounded by, and wholly obsessed with, design. Edmund’s father was an interior designer whose clients included the likes of The Rolling Stones; his sister took up the paternal profession, while his brother became an architect.

Sumner, for his part, decided to photograph buildings for a living, and working with his wife, the architectural journalist Yuki Sumner, has specialised in architectural photography, with particular emphasis placed on contemporary Japanese design.

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Ekambareswar Temple – Tamil Nadu

Photo credits : Renuka Menon

Photo credits: Renuka Menon

Located in Kanchipuram in the state of Tamil Nadu, Ekambareswar Temple is one of  the famous Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. This vast temple, covering an area over 40 acres, is one of the most ancient in India having been in existence since at least 600AD.

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New York Public Library’s Good And Sensible Decision

ILLUSTRATION: TOM BACHTELL

ILLUSTRATION: TOM BACHTELL

Thanks for this (and other recent) attention from the New Yorker‘s stable of super-writers (and others, elsewhere) on a topic of ongoing interest to us, especially this important comment:

The New York Public Library’s announcement that it is abandoning its Central Library Plan has been praised as a good and sensible thing, and indeed it is. The C.L.P. would have sold off the Mid-Manhattan Library and the Science, Industry, and Business Library (called sibl; five of its floors not open to the public have been sold already). The collections of those libraries would have been moved to the main research library, on Fifth Avenue, and elsewhere. That hundred-and-three-year-old edifice (now known as the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), with the stone lions out front, would have been reconfigured: seven floors of its stacks taken out, a lending library added to what had been a research library only, more than a million books moved off-site, and a four-level atrium and other new elements put in, following a design by the architect Norman Foster. Continue reading →

Congratulations, Annie Leonard And Greenpeace

Annie Leonard, a veteran environmental campaigner, is taking over as the new head of Greenpeace USA. Photograph: Erin Lubin/Greenpeace

Annie Leonard, a veteran environmental campaigner, is taking over as the new head of Greenpeace USA. Photograph: Erin Lubin/Greenpeace

We have linked to her work more than once, and this time it is a story of her new commitment that pulls our attention in her direction (thanks to the Guardian for their coverage). Just as we have noted about Paul Watson, not everyone agrees with all the tactics of environmentalists and the organizations they lead, but it is still our interest to share moments of importance like this one:

One of the first things Annie Leonard was asked on being named the new leader of Greenpeace USA this month was: are you willing to get arrested?

“I said: ‘Absolutely! I just need to figure out who is going to drive the car pool’,” Leonard told The Guardian. “It’s going to be interesting being a single mum doing this,” she said.

The last time Leonard worked for Greenpeace, over 20 years ago, the campaign group was known – only half-jokingly – as “boys and their boats”, because of its reputation for dangerous, high-visibility actions. Continue reading →

Anamudi Peak – Munnar

Photo credits :  Salim

Photo credits: Salim

Anamudi Peak, highest peak in South India, is situated in Idukki district at Munnar. The slopes of the hills abound in all kinds of rare flora and fauna.The peak is on the southern end of Eravikulam National park and can be reached on foot from there, a technically easy hike on grass slopes. Continue reading →

Please Contribute To Kerala’s State Heritage Survey

 

Thanks to the Hindu’s ongoing coverage of this important work:

The Centre for Heritage Studies at Tripunithura is embarking on a novel effort to document the state’s heritage.

The research and training institute is planning a heritage survey that will stretch across the state and involve the work of students, senior historians, local body officials and the common man.

“We will train students and they will go to the panchayat and ward levels to conduct the heritage survey. The students will speak to local body officials, people across the social strata, elders in the community, and anyone else who can contribute to the study of the region’s heritage,” said N.M. Nampoothiri, dean of academic affairs of CHS. According to Dr. Nampoothiri, the students will go door-to-door and collect information about historical documents, artefacts, architecture and the oral history of each region. The interdisciplinary survey would provide a detailed picture of the social, economic, and political structures of each region. Continue reading →

Booming City – Cochin

Photo credits : Remash Kidangoor

Photo credits: Remash Kidangoor

Cochin is one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Kerala. Situated on the coast of Arabian sea, it is one of India’s major port cities. Cochin is considered as the gateway to Kerala for attracting national as well as international tourists. Continue reading →

Flavours Of Kerala – Kerala Egg Masala

Photo Credit: Jithin Vijay

Photo Credit: Jithin Vijay

Kerala Egg Masala is a tasty and simple gravy dish which goes well with Kerala style palappam. A favorite dish for breakfast, the main ingredients for making egg masala is boiled egg, grated coconut, chili powder, coriander powder, onion, tomato and garam masala.

Critter-Countering Collaboration

A section of tree showing holes made by the Asian long horned beetle. The city of Boston, the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the US Dept. of Agriculture celebrate the eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle at the Arnold Arboretum. The event lifts the 1.5 mile quarantine that had been placed around Faulkner Hospital (including the Arboretum) after the discovery of infested trees there in 2010. Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

A section of tree showing holes made by the Asian long horned beetle. The city of Boston, the Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources, the Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, and the US Dept. of Agriculture celebrate the eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle at the Arnold Arboretum. The event lifts the 1.5 mile quarantine that had been placed around Faulkner Hospital (including the Arboretum) after the discovery of infested trees there in 2010.
Jon Chase/Harvard Staff Photographer

Harvard Gazette reports on this collaborative effort to deal with a determined pest that has ravaged forests in recent years:

“The whole country knows about Boston. When a challenge presents itself, the entire community here comes together. The eradication of the Asian longhorned beetle is a great example of that,” said Gary Woodward, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s deputy undersecretary of marketing and regulatory programs.

Continue reading →

Google, Maps, And Modern Conservation

StreetViewGrandCanyon-1-630

Screen capture from Google’s Street View Grand Canyon

We have not been sourcing from Harper’s, one of the great magazines covering topics of interest to Raxa Collective. We will mend our ways starting now:

Grand Plan

Why has Google added the Grand Canyon to Street View? By Jeremy Miller

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Lotus Flower

Photo credits : Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

The lotus is India’s national flower, and one of the eight auspicious signs of Buddhism and Hinduism. As a holy symbol in Indian culture and a sacred symbol of Hinduism, the lotus is found throughout the Hindu scriptures. In many spiritual traditions, lotus flowers are especially sacred as an offering to the divine. Continue reading →